Giacomo Balla, Paravento con linea di velocità, 1916-1917
Giacomo Balla, Paravento con linea di velocità, 1916-1917 Oil on canvas in frames painted by the artist, 151 x 126 cm, purchased with support from the BankGiro Lottery and the Rembrandt Association (partly thanks to its Maljers-de Jongh Fund) Collection Kröller-Müller Museum
Objects for the interior
The Italian artist Giacomo Balla is one of the first to embrace futurism, the art movement that seeks to express the dynamism of the modern age, the sensation of speed and constant change. In addition to painting, he also devotes himself to the futurist design of everyday life and indulges in countless designs of objects for the interior, from covers, lamps, tableware and collapsible furniture to complete interiors.
Moving car
In Paravento con linea di velocità, Balla uses the theme of a moving car to experiment with the depiction of motion. The car itself is not recognizable, but motion and speed are represented in an abstract, energetic arabesque, the linea di velocità.
Shaped canvas
Through the medium of the folding screen, painted on both sides, Balla literally occupies the space and extends the boundaries of the two-dimensional painting. Partly due to the fresh, contrasting colours, this folding screen is a remarkably modern looking shaped canvas, in which light, speed and dynamism are reduced to a synthesis of line and colour.
